For those of you not in New England: Market Basket is both a huge supermarket chain and the last bastion of decent working in the region. I work there along with my full-time job, and the benefits of just working *1-2 days every week* are fantastic, nevermind the people who work full time (we get bonus checks every quarter and profit sharing).

Basically, MB's board of directors has been conspiring against Arthur T (the now-fired CEO) over the bonus checks we get, as well as MB's year-long 4% everything price cut. Their argument being "the more sales and checks you write out, the longer it takes for us to make bank".

So now with Arthur T gone, his cousin Arthur S can now sit on the CEO seat and undo everything "Arty" did. No more bonuses, no more profit sharing...I have 3 people in my department who need those checks to support their kids. It's absolute bullshit.

I've been playing guitar for about 10 years now, and I've never been able to progress too far. But that's fine, because it inspired me to creatively overcome my limitations (double-jointed wrists give me pain when I make 3-finger chords, and I can't play leads for shit) through sound manipulation.

When a guitarist will record a track for an album, it's normally a guitar>amp>mic>mixing board deal. Being a hardcore punk fan, that's what I've heard for over a decade.

Problem with me is that I find that boring. When I was in school for recording, I could never get a sound that I liked from microphones. I always felt a disconnect from the sound- the microphone being the middleman.

Recently, I bought a Alesis io2 USB interface and torrented FL Studio 10. After a few afternoons fucking around, I managed to record a few tracks directly into the program. After layering fuzz and distortion on top of the clean master track, I managed to get a horrifically dirty, mangled guitar sound. For an idea, you can listen to "Wish" Nine Inch Nails- the initial guitar parts during the verse were what I A/B'd with my signal.

I also made the decision to not look for a drummer for the band I'm putting together, but to use a drum machine for a relentless, pounding sound. Think Big Black meets early NIN meets Agent Orange. It's gonna be killer.

Just learned that the original medical records I would need to enlist in the military -something that has taken me years due to multiple health reasons - have been destroyed by accident. I can no longer enlist, because no reprints were made. There goes me career options...2 years down the toilet.

I'm 23 and still live at home. I don't have a single penny to my name or a job. I am $15,000 in debt, and my only bank account is in the negative. I can't drive my own car because my license has been suspended due to me being unable to pay for repairs. I'm miserable all day, and the only enjoyment I get out of the week is D&D on Sundays...in another state.

I have no career options due to not graduating college, so the only solution is to work at a menial job for whatever hours I can find. Except nobody is hiring in my town.

My family is disappointed in my, even though they don't say it. I can tell. I seal myself away from everyone else in an attempt to hide, and my pathological lying isn't helping.

From Jank to Power AKA How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love Cardboard

November 16, 2011, 10:26 am

As some of you might know, I play Magic: The Gathering. It's my second hobby, and something I really enjoy playing.

Like any Magic player, I trade. Every Friday and occasional Monday, I'm down at my FLGS trading for cards. And like every Magic player, I have trading goals.

My goal is to grab a part of the Power Nine.

Now you might be thinking "What is the Power Nine?". The Power Nine are nine cards printed in Magic's Beta through Unlimited Edition. They are also known for being obscenely powerful: every card in the P9 are banned in every format except Vintage, where they are restricted to one copy per deck.

As of right now, my binder is mostly cleaned (traded it for store credit to buy a Commander precon), but I have a few things of worth in there. The most valuable thing I own is a Force of Will, worth $60. The rest is, well, jank.

The trick to trading upwards is the "Christmas Tree" method, told to me by a buddy of mine: When you get something worth a lot of value, trade into multiple smaller pieces in terms of worth. For example: FoW is $60, Misty Rainforest is $15. I'll trade you my FoW for your playset of Misty Rainforest, and get my value back equally. The next time I trade with anyone, they'll probably take my playset on top of what they also want...allowing me to trade for something worth even more.

It's going to be a long, slow, painful process, but I am one stubborn SOB. The recent release of Innistrad has put a lot of cards in demand, and I buy a lot of booster packs. Who knows, I might just grab a Liliana ($40) out of a $4 investment!